Keith Falls Through the Ice
by itsgonnabemay5
Summary: Keith falls through the ice and Lance uses his body heat to warm him up.


Keith Falls Through Ice- Bingo Card

Keith scanned the white area. Everything was sparkling and blinding as the sun hit the snow. Allura had sent him and Lance on a mission alone together, but they had crash landed on this unfamiliar territory.

"Have you ever seen so much whiteness in your life?" Keith squinted as he asked Lance, who seemed to be just as much in awe as he was.

"First time for me," Lance said.

Keith turned to him, dumbstruck. "You've never seen snow before?"

Lance shook his head. "First time for everything I guess."

They continued walking and saw a rundown shack up ahead. Keith turned to him. "We should go check it out."

Lance folded his arms. "Are you serious? We don't even know who's living there."

Keith exhaled loudly and shook his head. They had been arguing about everything all day since they started the mission. He wasn't sure how much he could take. "Lance, we're stranded. Our lions aren't functioning right now, our radios are down, and we've got nothing to eat. What do you expect we should do?"

When Lance realized he was right, he set off with a huff, with Keith following right behind him. Turns out the shack was deserted. It was dirty, and items were disheveled around the house. It looked like it had been deserted for years. There was a circle made of rocks that Keith assumed was for a fire. Pots and pans were in the kitchen on the counters. They checked around, but there was no food.

Keith shivered. It was freezing out here. They weren't dressed for this kind of weather. "Brrr," he said, rubbing his arms.

"Cold?" Lance asked the obvious.

Keith rolled his eyes. "No, not at all. I just like hugging myself."

"I'm just saying that if you're cold, there's always you know, body heat to keep us warm." He turned away from Keith and then added quickly, "but that's I mean, in dire circumstances." He cleared his throat.

"Right, right," Keith said, suddenly needing to cough. After a moment of silence, he had an idea. Maybe they could pass the time while having fun. He cleared his throat. "So, I was thinking. You've never seen snow, so wanna go play in it? It should help warm us up in the meantime."

Lance had to stifle the wide smile that threatened his chapped cheeks. "Play? Well, I guess since there's nothing else to do."

The two exited the shack and went back outside. Keith gathered up a snowball and hit Lance when he wasn't looking.

"Hey!" Lance said as he turned around.

Keith hit him with another one before laughing and running away. While Keith was making another snowball, Lance attacked him from the side. Once he gathered enough snow in both his hands, he ran farther out. "You can't get me!"

His feet suddenly lost traction and he was slipping around, falling to the ground. He realized he was now on ice. Lance laughed and came running towards him.

Keith picked himself up and started towards Lance, but he heard a crack. He looked down, and half his shoe was covered in freezing water. Panicking, he cried out, "Lance!"

Lance didn't understand. He was still smiling. He pulled his arm back in preparation to hit Keith with a large snowball, when Keith put up his hands and waved them earnestly back and forth, yelling, "Stop! Help me!"

Lance pursed his lips and lowered his throwing arm. Once he registered the terror on Keith's face, he ran hurriedly over to him. "Keith, what's wrong?"

The ice cracked again from Keith's weight. He shifted his foot and he came crashing down. His whole body went under the water right in front of Lance's eyes. Icy water froze his muscles and he could hardly breathe. He thrashed around and was able to get his head back above water. He sucked in a bunch of air when he felt Lance's hands around his wrist.

"I've got you," Lance said. With much effort, Lance pulled his body halfway out of the water as Lance lay horizontal across the ice. More ice cracked around where Keith went down, and he hoped no more would shatter. He pulled and he tugged. Keith couldn't help out anymore. His legs were too numb that he couldn't feel them.

Keith was a deadweight in his hands. Another tug and Keith's frigid body was fully out of the water. There was another crack and Lance saw to his right that another large chip of ice was threatening to pull apart. In order to lower the weight on the ice, he slid Keith to safety. Lance crawled the rest of the way over to him.

He quickly got them both onto the snow and off the ice. They were breathing heavily and their lungs ached in their chests. Lance knew he needed to get Keith warm or he might not make it. His clothes were soaked and already frozen. Keith lay there shivering, lips blue.

"Keith, are you okay?" Lance said, hovering over him.

"C-c-c-cold-d-d," Keith stuttered as his body violently shook.

"I'm gonna get you warm, okay?" Lance began stripping him from his jacket and then his shirt. He heard Keith moan, which made him work faster. "Stay with me, buddy." He saw his eyelids flutter and Lance yelled, "Don't go to sleep! Stay awake!"

Keith's eyes flew open in a snap. "Tired," Keith mumbled.

"I know you are, but you've gotta stay awake. For me," he added. Once his shirt was off, Lance did whatever he thought would heat him up faster. He rubbed his hands all over Keith's chest, specifically all around his heart, hoping that would save him. The heart was a person's lifeline, so he had to make sure Keith's heart was warm.

His chest felt like a popsicle. He had to do something. He tore off his own shirt and picked Keith up, which took a lot of effort, and placed Keith against him so their chests were touching. Now that they were basically hugging, Lance put his arms around him and held him close as he ran his hands up and down Keith's bare back vigorously.

Keith hung limply in Lance's arms, his head lolling to each side.

"Keith, you still with me? You awake?" Lance asked.

Half asleep, yet conscious, Keith replied, "uh-huh."

"Good, good." He then put his t-shirt on Keith since it was mostly dry, rubbing every inch of Keith's arms and shoulders as he put it on, trying to improve his circulation.

Now for Keith's pants. "I've gotta get your pants off you, Keith," Lance told him. This was no time to be embarrassed, but he felt his cheeks blush nonetheless. Keith just moaned in response.

Lance undid the button and pulled down the zipper. He pulled the waist of his pants down, and luckily, Keith was wearing boxers. He slid them all the way down and then picked up the half-conscious boy and cradled him in his arms. He walked as fast as he could to the shack, closing the door. The only light was the sun streaming in the window.

It was cold here, too, but at least there wasn't a breeze. Keith began to stir and ask where he was.

"We're in the shack. Are you alright?"

"I'm c-cold," Keith said, still shivering uncontrollably.

Lance wanted to go to the lions to see if communication was working yet, but he knew that would take a while, and Keith might freeze in the meantime. "I'm gonna try making a fire."

He searched the kitchen, and, in a drawer, he found matches. He gathered items around the house that he knew would burn and struck a match, throwing it in the fire pit. Within a few minutes, he had a decent fire going.

He placed Keith closer to it and pulled him close and kept an arm around Keith's shivering body. Without blankets, this would have to do, and Lance wasn't complaining. "Are you warmer now?"

"Yeah," Keith said, and Lance could see a bit of color returning to his cheeks. Keith lowered his head and placed it on Lance's shoulder and then snuggled deeper into his side. "Thank you for s-saving me."

Lance smiled and felt his cheeks grow hot. He tightened his grip around his waist, feeling Keith's shivers turning into slight tremors. The fire was working really well. "No need to thank me. You would've done the same for me."

Keith yawned and closed his eyes. Now that he was out of the woods, it was safe for him to sleep. Lance ran his hand up and down Keith's side and arm and Keith's hand moved to Lance's thigh as he fell asleep.

An hour later, they both woke up. The fire was still going but was smaller. "Keith, I think it's time to get back to our lions. I'm sure Allura and the gang are worried about us."

Keith agreed, but before they left, they looked around the cabin to see if they might've missed anything that they could use. Lance opened a closet to reveal an old piece of clothing that resembled some sort of animal skin with matching pants. The boys looked at each other, making a face.

"It's either this or freeze to death," Lance reminded him.

"In that case. . . " Keith said, and reached for it. He put it on and Lance whistled. "Looking good! Come on, let's go!"

When they returned to their lions, they were working again and so were the communications. Lance was able to relate to Allura what had happened.

"Does Keith need a pod?" she asked.

"I don't think so. He's pretty much recovered."

"Well, he'll at least need to be checked out for any signs of hypothermia to be sure he's okay," Allura said. "Thanks for taking care of him."

"Of course," Lance said. "It was my pleasure."


End file.
